Real talk from a technical founder building AI-powered businesses
Published November 12, 2025 • Based on Founder Reality Episode 42
Also available on: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • YouTube
Yesterday I went to a bookstore and had the strangest experience. I couldn't get past chapter one of any book.
Self-help section? Flipped through five books, couldn't finish one. Business bestsellers? Same thing. I kept looking for the point, the framework, the actual insight - but it was buried under 40 pages of backstory and filler.
It wasn't because I was distracted. It wasn't because I was lazy. I physically couldn't tolerate how long these books take to get to the point.
Walking out, I felt weird about it. I used to love reading. In college, I'd buy so many books from Amazon that every four months when I moved dorms, I'd carry boxes of them across campus. Everyone told me to donate them. I refused.
But yesterday made me realize something: I'm not reading less. I'm reading more than ever. I just stopped reading the wrong way.
And it took me 10 years to figure this out.
The Most Useless Book I Read This Year
Let me tell you about Trailblazer by Mark Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce.
I finished all 300 pages. My first thought after closing it? "What an absolute waste of time."
It was 300 pages of a billionaire congratulating himself for being socially conscious. Zero insights on how he actually built Salesforce. Just performance, self-congratulation, projection.
Here's what shocked me more: when I tried to count how many books have actually made a lasting impact on my life, I could count them on one hand. Maybe five or six books total in 10 years of reading business and self-help books.
Five books that mattered out of hundreds I've read.
The Uncomfortable Truth Nobody Wants to Hear
Most business books are written for people who want to read, not people who want to build.
That's a huge difference.
When you want to read, you want the journey. You want backstory. You want to feel like you're learning. You want to understand every context before making a mental decision about whether to do something.
But when you're trying to build something? You want the insight in 30 seconds. You don't have time for 400 pages just to get to one point. You're already reading emails, blog posts, forums. You don't have patience for slow chapter-by-chapter buildup.
Here's the part that makes people uncomfortable: If you're reading a business or self-help book and not immediately applying it to your business or life, you're procrastinating. You're not learning. You're performing that you're learning.
The book industry knows this. That's why they stretch 30 pages of insights into 300 pages of filler. Because people buy books to feel productive, to feel like their life might change - not to actually produce results.
Why Performance Reading is Everywhere
You see it constantly on Twitter and LinkedIn:
- "This month I read these 5 books"
- "Here's my top 10 books for entrepreneurs"
- Reading list blog posts and year-end roundups
I get it. I did the same thing a few years ago. Society conditions us: reading = intellectual, reading = self-improvement, reading = being serious.
But here's the reality: most business books are generic to the point that millions can read them and find them "interesting." But for people who actually want to apply the insights? They're hollow.
Go read Amazon reviews or Goodreads comments. You'll see the same complaints:
- "I wish it had more frameworks"
- "I wish it went into more detail"
- "The author just mentioned an idea and disappeared"
We all feel it. Books written for everyone means they're written for no one specifically.
My Three Reading Phases Over 10 Years
Phase 1 (College 2017-2018): Read Everything Cover to Cover
I was a broke student who didn't know anything about startups or business. Reading was how I avoided feeling helpless. I'd read business books to catch up, self-help books to feel motivated.
That was fine for starting out. I needed the basics. But I started noticing a serious pattern: most business books are so generic that millions can read them, but they become hollow for people trying to actually do something.
Phase 2 (Few Years Ago): Getting Selective
I learned about Naval Ravikant's reading habit. He flips through books quickly. If they don't interest him, he throws them away. No guilt about quitting.
I started doing the same. Flip books in bookstores. Read chapter titles, first and last chapters. If it doesn't give me something actionable? Put it down, move to the next one.
Most books failed that test.
I stopped reading self-help books entirely. After reading several, I realized they rarely make you do anything concrete. They make you feel good, like you've learned something life-changing. A few months later? You've forgotten it entirely.
Phase 3 (Now): The Builder System
Fully format-agnostic and AI-assisted. I'll explain exactly how this works below.
The Dark Side of Self-Help Gurus
A journalist recently discovered that Jay Shetty - the famous "monk" author - never actually went to India to be a monk. That completely destroyed his image for me.
Digging deeper, I realized most self-help authors make money from people who think learning from them will make them better. Their books are designed as lead magnets to get you hooked, then sell you $700-1400 courses, conference tickets, event access.
I saw one self-help guru selling a $700 course specifically to people who are "not financially aware" - targeting people at the bottom of society - using buy-now-pay-later financing broken into 12-month installments.
Having built payment financing myself, I found this disgusting. Exploiting vulnerable people like this is dark.
Business book authors are often worse. Most aren't successful entrepreneurs themselves. They're content creators teaching you how to do things they've never done.
The Two Books That Were Actually Worth It
In 10 years, only two business books stand out as genuinely valuable:
Zero to One by Peter Thiel - He lived through it himself as part of the PayPal mafia. The book was raw and real because he had actual experience building a startup.
The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz - I read this in 2016 during my first semester of college. Despite Ben being worth hundreds of millions at the time of writing, it felt real. Like he was an actual person with real experiences, not performing success.
I can remember these books from 8-9 years ago. If I can't even remember a book in front of you right now, it probably didn't make much impact.
What Actually Works: The AI-Assisted Learning Workflow
Here's my current workflow. Try it and let me know what you think:
Step 1: Ask AI to Summarize the Book
Before investing 10 hours reading, spend 5 minutes asking ChatGPT or Claude:
- "Summarize this book for me so I can understand if it's worth reading"
- "Based on my profile and what I'm building, which chapters should I read?"
- "What are the three key takeaways?"
If it passes that test and you're intrigued, continue. If not, move on.
Step 2: Get Chapter-Level Recommendations
Ask: "Based on my profile as [your role], rank the chapters from most to least important for me."
This is crucial because your AI probably knows your profile. If you're an entrepreneur vs a financial analyst vs a stay-at-home parent, different chapters matter.
Step 3: Summarize Specific Chapters
If the AI says chapter 3 is valuable, ask it to summarize that specific chapter. See if the insights are worth your time before committing.
Step 4: Read Those Chapters Only
If it's still valuable after AI summary, actually read those chapters. Buy or borrow the book. Read the valuable parts first. You can read other chapters later if you want.
Example: When I read The Sovereign Individual (1996 book with 12 chapters), I read chapters 3, 4, 10, and 11 first based on AI recommendation. Then read the others when I had time.
Most of the time, AI summaries are enough. I rarely buy the physical book anymore.
The React Learning Breakthrough
A few months ago, I tried to learn React (frontend development framework). I watched tutorials, read documentation, tried to understand React hooks.
My mind kept wandering. I couldn't get through videos or books. It wasn't just one teacher - I'd tried multiple times with different resources.
Then I realized: I'm never going to be a full-time developer. So why am I learning like someone who will be?
Instead, I opened Cursor (an AI code editor) and started an empty project. I asked it to teach me React hooks step by step by building a shopping cart application similar to Instacart.
"Use this project to help me learn React hooks and how other elements work. Teach me step by step and explain why we're doing this. If I have questions, I'll ask."
After a few hours, I got it. I learned in a fraction of the time compared to the 12-hour course that kept putting me to sleep.
Why project-based learning worked: I wasn't consuming information. I was building with information.
The same principle applies to books. You can't just read and expect to change. Reading cover to cover is like watching language tutorial videos for 100 hours and never having a conversation.
Building while learning is like living in a country for three months while learning the language. Completely different game.
Five Truths I Wish I Knew 10 Years Ago
1. Most business books can be summarized in one blog post
Try it. Ask ChatGPT to summarize any business book. You'll see how well it captures the core insights. The actual valuable content? Maybe 30 pages max.
2. If you can't apply it in the next 30 days, don't read it
I used to read about future trends and long-term strategy to feel smart. But I wasn't building anything with that information. If it's not actionable now, skip it and come back when you actually need it.
3. Format doesn't matter, application does
People hate audiobooks because they say you don't get the "intrinsic value" of the author's perspective. I disagree.
Audiobooks while driving? Fine. Kindle on your phone? Fine. AI summaries? Even better.
Stop gatekeeping how people should consume information. What matters is: Did you extract value? Did you build something with it? Did you apply it?
4. Reading lists are performance art
I won't make reading lists for my blog because I think they're performance. If I read something truly valuable, I'll write a blog post about it and summarize it for you. But telling you to "go buy this book" when most won't? That's disingenuous.
5. It's okay to quit books
You don't owe the author anything. If you're 20, 30, or 50 pages in and it's not delivering value, put it down. Your time is worth more than the author's feelings.
The Builder's Reading System
Here's the complete system I use now. Steal it:
Step 1: Pick the format that works for YOU
- Audio, Kindle, physical - doesn't matter
- Stop forcing yourself to read in ways that don't work for your life
Step 2: Use AI as a filter
- Before investing 10 hours, spend 5 minutes with AI
- "Summarize this book based on my profile"
- "What chapters should I read?"
- "What are the three key takeaways?"
Step 3: Read at chapter level, not cover to cover
- You don't need the author's life story
- You don't need 40 pages of setup
- Read introduction, chapters that matter, skip the rest
Step 4: Apply immediately or don't read it
- If you can't use the insight in the next 30 days, why are you reading?
- Save for later or forget about it until you actually need it
Step 5: Stop performing
- Don't post "I read X books this month"
- Don't make reading lists
- Read to build and apply, or don't read at all
A Note From a First-Time Author
I'm finishing my first book: "The Anti-Unicorn: The Consulting Way." Many readers tell me it takes a long time to get through the first half.
Here's what I tell them: Use ChatGPT to summarize it. It's perfectly fine.
If the author himself says it's okay to use AI summaries instead of reading cover to cover, then it's okay.
The Real Question
Stop reading books to feel productive. Stop reading books to feel smart. Start reading books to build.
What matters isn't what you read - it's what you built because of what you read.
In a world where AI can summarize a book in 60 seconds, where you can search for specific insights instantly, and where your time is your most valuable asset - why would you read like it's 1995?
You wouldn't. And you shouldn't.
Want to learn faster? Try the AI-assisted workflow above with your next book. Extract insights in minutes instead of hours.
Building something? Focus on project-based learning, not information consumption.
George Pu builds AI-powered businesses at SimpleDirect and ANC. Follow along for unfiltered founder insights at @TheGeorgePu.
